Urban Bushmen

Urban Bushmen
Live album by Art Ensemble of Chicago
Publication (s)	1982
admission	May 1982
Label (s)	ECM records
Format (s)	Double LP, double CD
Genre (s)	Free jazz , creative music
Title (number)	10
running time	92:46
occupation	Lester Bowie : trumpet , bass drum, vocals Malachi Favors Maghostut : double bass , percussion , melodica , vocals Joseph Jarman : saxophone , vocals, clarinet , bassoon , flutes , percussion Roscoe Mitchell : saxophone, flute, drums, clarinet, vocals Don Moye : drums , percussion, melodica, balafon , vocals
production	Manfred Eicher
Location (s)	Munich
chronology Full Force 1980 Urban Bushmen Among the People 1981

Urban Bushmen (Engl. City Bushmen ) is a live album of the Art Ensemble of Chicago , which in May 1982 at the America House Munich received and ECM was published.

background

The double album was recorded at a concert in Munich. The album is characterized by three long pieces, Urban Magic by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Precondition Two / Theme for Sco by Moye and Jarman, and Uncle by Mitchell. Ballads are also recorded. The piece New York is Full of Lonely People is considered one of the most famous and beautiful ballads by Lester Bowie .

reception

Allmusic awarded 4.5 stars out of 5. Stephen Cook wrote about the album on Allmusic :

“Urban Bushmen not only provides an excellent summation of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's work since 1966, but also substantiates the group's reputation for putting on intense and inspired shows .... This is one of the Art Ensemble's best recordings, but due to its intense breadth it might not be an ideal first purchase for newcomers. "

“Urban Bushmen not only provides an excellent summary of the work of the Art Ensemble of Chicago since 1966, but also established the group's reputation for delivering intense and inspired performances ... This is one of the Art Ensemble's best recordings, but because of it With its intense breadth, it may not be the ideal first purchase for newcomers. "

The critic Tom Moon highlighted the title Sun Precondition Two / Theme for Sco , which shows the special talent of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which is responsible for the most vividly presented free jazz of the 1970s and 80s. Further highlights of the album are the percussive Bush Magic , which is reminiscent of an African village square, and the other extreme, Urban Magic , which can only be heard through whistles and sirens between its solo passages. The members of the Art Ensemble create their own atmosphere simply by using a large number of instruments - Jarman alone plays 22 - “That's the beauty of free jazz as practiced by the Art Ensemble: It thrives not on one big idea but a thousand little ones”.

In the Penguin Guide to Jazz by Richard Cook and Brian Morton , the album was rated 3½ stars; the authors consider Urban Bushmen to be the best album of the ECM phase, whose haphazard productions are disappointing. In over 90 minutes, the group shows the virtuosity of their wide range of equipment. Despite all the limitations, it remains a useful introduction to her work.

Eric Thacker made a similar statement: The album is perhaps the best compendium of the range of visions of the Art Ensemble and more consistent than later productions (such as The Third Decade , also on ECM). One could not deny that various parts of Urban Bushmen received their inspiration from music that was far removed from jazz, but the eclecticism of the ensemble was shaped by a hopeful interpretation of the approach of the jazz avant-garde and by the realization that the roots of jazz itself had strange roots.

effect

Kahil El'Zabar recorded an album of the same name based on the album of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Track list

CD 1

1. Promenade: Cote Bamako I (Moye) - 4:11
2. Bush Magic (Favors, Moye) - 5:05
3. Urban Magic (Art Ensemble of Chicago) - 3:45 pm
4. Sun Precondition Two / Theme for Sco (Moye / Jarman) - 21:53

CD 2

1. New York Is Full of Lonely People (Bowie) - 7:37
2. Ancestral Meditation (Art Ensemble of Chicago) - 6:56
3. Uncle (Mitchell) - 17:29
4. Peter and Judith (Mitchell) - 2:39
5. Promenade: Cote Bamako II (Moye) - 5:57
6. Odwalla / Theme (Mitchell) - 5:14

literature

• Max Harrison , Eric Thacker, Stuart Nicholson : The Essential Jazz Records. Vol. 2: Modernism to Postmodernism London, New York, Mansell 2000, ISBN 0720118220

Web links

• "The Art Ensemble of Chicago: 'Urban Bushmen'" , ARTE , 2006, Series: "30 Recordings of the Century of Jazz"
• Urban Bushmen at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ECM Catalog ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ S. Cook: Review at Allmusic.com
3. ↑ Tom Moon: 1,000 records to hear before you die ( memento of the original from October 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Quoted from Cook / Morton, 6th edition, p. 480.
5. ^ Harrison, Thacker, Nicholson: The Essential Jazz Records , p. 562
6. ^ Harrison, Thacker, Nicholson: The Essential Jazz Records , p. 56
7. ↑ Kahil El'Zabar: Urban Bushman - All About Jazz CD Review ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.